Combining Passive Acoustics and Environmental Data for Scaling Up Ecosystem Monitoring: A Test on Coral Reef Fishes

Ecological surveys of coral reefs mostly rely on visual data collected by human observers. Although new monitoring tools are emerging, their specific advantages should be identified to optimise their simultaneous use. Based on the goodness-of-fit of linear models, we compared the potential of passiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-05, Vol.14 (10), p.2394
Main Authors: Elise, Simon, Guilhaumon, François, Mou-Tham, Gérard, Urbina-Barreto, Isabel, Vigliola, Laurent, Kulbicki, Michel, Bruggemann, J. Henrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic tracking
Acoustics
Biomass
Cameras
conservation
Coral reefs
ecoacoustic indices
Ecological monitoring
Ecosystems
Fish
fish assemblages
Functional groups
Geographic information systems
Goodness of fit
Habitats
Morphology
Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM)
Predictions
Reef fish
Remote sensing
Soundscapes
Visual observation
Water circulation
Water column
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Summary:Ecological surveys of coral reefs mostly rely on visual data collected by human observers. Although new monitoring tools are emerging, their specific advantages should be identified to optimise their simultaneous use. Based on the goodness-of-fit of linear models, we compared the potential of passive acoustics and environmental data for predicting the structure of coral reef fish assemblages in different environmental and biogeographic settings. Both data types complemented each other. Globally, the acoustic data showed relatively low added value in predicting fish assemblage structures. The predictions were best for the distribution of fish abundance among functional entities (i.e., proxies for fish functional groups, grouping species that share similar eco-morphological traits), for the simplest functional entities (i.e., combining two eco-morphological traits), and when considering diet and the level in the water column of the species. Our study demonstrates that Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) improves fish assemblage assessment when used in tandem with environmental data compared to using environmental data alone. Such combinations can help with responding to the current conservation challenge by improving our surveying capacities at increased spatial and temporal scales, facilitating the identification and monitoring of priority management areas.
ISSN:2072-4292
2072-4292
DOI:10.3390/rs14102394